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Both Brewer, Pearce call SB 1070 a success

PHOENIX - It provoked demonstrations and boycotts. And some key
provisions have been enjoined by federal courts.

But a year after Gov. Jan Brewer signed it into law, you'll
never convince Senate President Russell Pearce that SB 1070, which
he crafted, is anything but an unqualified success.

"They're leaving in caravans," he said of illegal
immigrants.

"I've talked to a U-Haul dealer," Pearce continued. "He said
business has never been better."

And the rentals have been one-way, Pearce said.

Brewer, who gained national recognition with her signature, said
she, too, believes SB 1070 has been a success. But her perspective
is a bit different.

Brewer continues to fight in court to set aside the injunction
by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton against enforcement of
some provisions. That effort suffered another setback just this
past week when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld
Bolton's decision.

But the governor said just the act of passing the law made a
difference.

"It has really brought more people aware of the issues we are
facing in Arizona," the governor said. "It's been amazing what this
bill has generated."

That awareness got action.

It was not until Brewer signed the bill that President Obama
found time in his schedule to meet with the governor in Washington.
And it was not until that meeting that Obama made a firm commitment
to put additional National Guard troops along the border with
Mexico, albeit only for a year.

Pearce said he sees the effect in more immediate terms.

It is true that Bolton said the state could not enforce a
provision of the law requiring police officers to make a reasonable
attempt to check the immigration status of those they have stopped.
Also enjoined were provisions forbidding police from releasing
anyone they have arrested until that person's immigration status is
determined, and creating a new state crime for trying to secure
work while not in this country legally.

But Pearce pointed out the Obama administration, which brought
the lawsuit, did not challenge several other provisions. Key among
them, he said, is a requirement for local officials to cooperate
with the federal government on issues of illegal immigration.

"The purpose of 1070 was to eliminate sanctuary policies," he
said, where officials in some communities made a conscious decision
not to call immigration officials when they come across those not
in the country legally. "That's done."

That section of the law has teeth, he said, with anyone who
believes cities are not cooperating entitled to sue for damages up
to $5,000 a day.

"1070 puts citizens in charge," he said.

The administration also did not seek to block enforcement of
other provisions making it a crime to stop a vehicle in traffic to
hire a day laborer, or for someone looking for work to get into a
stopped vehicle or making it illegal to transport or harbor an
illegal immigrant.

All of that, Pearce said, has had an effect.

"Violent crime has dropped three times the national average in
Arizona," he said.

"That's huge," Pearce continued. "How many lives does that mean?
How many victims does that avoid?"

There's a financial component to that, too.

"We're 500 inmates below where we were last year," he said,
which not only saves about $30,000 a year per inmate but also
avoids prosecution costs.

What the state needs to spend in aid to public schools, as
families pack up for elsewhere, has also declined, he said.

But there is a negative side still hanging out there.

Shortly after the bill was signed, tourism officials said they
were hit with a wave of cancellations for future conferences and
conventions.

Kristin Jarnigan, spokeswoman for the Arizona Hotel and Lodging
Association, said at the time that the first cancellations were
from groups taking a stand against SB 1070. "But what we're hearing
now ... is a lot of the meetings are bypassing Arizona because they
just don't want to be associated with the controversy," she
said.

Brewer, who formed a task force to deal with the image problem,
acknowledged that groups that were planning to come to Arizona in
the future were having second thoughts.

The law did have one other almost immediate effect: It made both
Brewer and Pearce national figures, with regular appearances on
talk shows.

Brewer said she now gets recognized pretty much wherever she
goes. But she said the real benefit of all that publicity is the
ability to get out the word about the problems along the
border.